About Menu

Complete Listing of Closer to Truth Episodes.

Season 18

No.

Title & Description

Contributors

Watch

1801

The Multiverse: What's Real? What could be more startling than many universes – multiple universes, innumerable universes, perhaps an infinite number of universes? But does the multiverse really exist?

Critical Realism in Science & TheologyWhat’s the world as it really is? Not filtered, not represented, not interpreted. Bedrock reality. Meaning and purpose, if any, depends on it. But can we know if what we perceive is bedrock reality?

Why Consonance in Science and Theology?The relationship between science and theology has easy conflicts and hard harmonies. Is consonance possible? What is consonance in science and religion that we should quest for it?

Cosmology and CreationTo most physicists, mindless laws generated the universe. A few believe that a supreme being is the creator. But don’t the discoveries of cosmology eliminate the need for supernatural causes?

What is Philosophy of Biology? Biology has big questions. What is life, language, race, gender, morality, wisdom, religion, extraterrestrial intelligence? A new field of inquiry seeks underlying structure and coherence.

Epistemology: How Do I Know? How can we have confidence in what we know or believe? What is knowledge? What is belief? How is belief justified? And is justified belief knowledge? How can we not doubt everything?

What is Analytic Theology? Can the analytic enrich the theological, sharpening distinctions of doctrine? Can deep questions about God be addressed with methods and practices that are precise and rigorous?

Being in the World- A Tribute to Hubert DreyfusHubert Dreyfus, renowned philosopher of phenomenology, died in 2017. A few years earlier, we discussed consciousness, AI, God, creation, religion, body and soul, existence, and meaning of life.

If God, What's Evolution? If God does not exist, evolution is a full explanation of human origins, without deep meaning or purpose. But if God does exist, what is evolution and how did it happen? Here are possibilities.

Challenges of Analytic TheologyIs analytic theology for the better, clarifying beliefs? Or for the worse, undermining faith? How does it compare with philosophy of religion, biblical studies and exegesis, and systematic theology?

How Does the Subconscious Affect Us?There is more to our mental lives than the current content of our awareness. Our subconscious affects what we sense, think, feel and do. How does the subconscious work its magic?

Can Metaphysics Discern God II? Metaphysics seeks insights into fundamental features of existence. It does not depend on human emotions or personal testimonies. When metaphysics focuses on God, what happens?

A Tribute to Huston SmithHuston Smith, world religion scholar and seeker of the Divine in diverse religions, died on December 30, 2016. We had the privilege of discussing God, spirit, soul, eternal life, judgment, existence.

Observing Quanta, Observing NatureWhy is an observer key to quantum physics? Does the act of observation affect what exists and what happens in the external world? Why is Observation in the quantum world a mystery?

Why Philosophy of Physics & Cosmology?The observable universe may contain two trillion galaxies and there may be innumerable universes. Is there ultimate unification, a final theory? Search for deep harmony. Discern deep meaning.

Science and the Future of HumanityHumankind has learned so much, so fast. What are the risks of scientific knowledge? Look to the future. Artificial intelligence. Genetic engineering. Benefits? Dangers?

What is the Doomsday Argument? Have we underestimated the risks of global catastrophe and human extinction? There is an odd argument that claims to justify end-of-the-world worries with raw statistics.

How Could God Make Miracles? Where do miracles fit in belief systems that center on God? If God exists, how could God make miracles happen, and what would miracles imply about the way God relates to the world?

How do Language and Consciousness Relate? Why the tension between consciousness, my inner experience, and language, enabling thought and culture? Does consciousness cause language? Or language cause consciousness?

Can God and Science Mix? Science and religion each claims dominion over deep reality. But science and religion are not parallel. All should believe science, humanity’s common language, while religion has many skeptics.

Can Brain Alone Explain Consciousness? Can physical facts about the brain account for mental experiences of the mind? Has philosophy of mind made progress? We take a 15-year journey with John Searle and David Chalmers.

Can Enlarged Materialism Explain Consciousness? Materialism is the belief that only physical things are real. But physical things seem so utterly different from mental things. Could there be more to materialism than the known laws of physics?

Fallacies in Arguing for God? When believers argue that God exists, what mistakes do they make? What are their errors in logic as well as in fact? Whoever wants to believe in God must not use arguments that do not work.

What is Philosophy of Science? Can science discover all truths? Or are there truths beyond science? What is science? A process? A way of thinking? How to get at the essence of science, discern how it really works?

Does the Cosmos Have a Reason?How breathtakingly vast is the universe. How majestic. Is there meaning, purpose—a reason? Some scientists say no; we create our own purpose. Others look to God, while some seek meaning in the search for aliens. All see beauty.

Can the Cosmos Have a Reason? Perhaps we cannot know the reason for the universe, if there is any. But is it even possible for the universe to have a reason? If yes, how would natural regularities and rules compare with some kind of goal or God?

Speculating About God?In searching, striving to know God—if there is a God—we discover contrasting ways that God could be. It is good to wonder about God, see a landscape of possibilities, get the big picture of what God may be like.

How Could God Intervene in the Universe? For God to be God, God could not do nothing. If God exists, God must do things. Assuming God created the universe, then God should do things with the universe. But what? And how?

What Could ESP Mean? Extrasensory perception (ESP) probes reality. If ESP does not exist, then today’s physical world may be all there is. If ESP does exist, then reality may go beyond the physical world. But can ESP be tested by science?

How Could ESP Work? If ESP were real, would it transcend space and time? How could our minds know stuff, and do stuff, not only beyond our senses, but also beyond the laws of physics? What are possible mechanisms?

How to Argue for God? Is there a supreme being, a creator of all things, a God? Can arguments—reasons, logic, ways of thinking—cut through traditions, norms, feelings? Believers bear the burden of proof.

Does God Know Everything? Western religions claim that God is all-knowing. Then the trouble starts. What does it mean to know everything? Is God’s knowledge of the future truth? Are ‘possibilities’ truth? Can God know infinities of truths? Does omniscience test a theistic God?

What is Causation?Why does one thing ‘cause’ another thing? Is causation fundamental, primitive, real—not reducible to, or explainable by, anything else? Or is causation a human construct, derivative, artificial? At stake is what existence is about.

Can Dualism Explain Consciousness? Dualism claims reality has two parts, a physical and a nonphysical (mental or spiritual), both equally real. Dualism is believed by most people but rejected by most philosophers and scientists.

Is Consciousness Ultimate Reality?Some say that consciousness is the only true reality—that everything else, including the universe, comes from consciousness. If so, how would consciousness relate to the world?

Can the Mind Heal the Body?Stress triggers sickness, shortens life. Tranquility promotes wellness, lengthens life. How we think affects how we feel. Psychosomatic medicine is modern medicine. But what works, and what doesn’t? What’s science, and what’s not?

What is Information? Information is all the rage in science, changing how we think about fundamental questions. Information has many descriptions, some of them surprising. Why is Information so important to scientists and philosophers?

Can Design Point to God?To argue for God, the easy way appears to be ‘design’, the obvious order and apparent purpose of the world. How could all of this be if there were no God? Quite easily, says science. What’s the deep thinking on both sides?

Does Information Create the Cosmos? Of what is reality made? What are the most basic building blocks from which the cosmos is constructed? Particles? Mass-Energy? Forces? Fields? A new candidate is ‘Information’—‘IT from BIT’.

Why a Body in a Resurrection? Judaism, Christianity and Islam teach the ‘resurrection of the body’, the person brought back to life. But isn’t a ‘body’ out of place in a nonphysical hereafter? Isn’t a body a burden throughout eternity? Moreover, how to resurrect a body?

Must Multiple Universes Exist? Of all human knowledge, the most stunning may be multiple universes—very many universes, perhaps an infinite number of universes. Are multiple universes—the ‘multiverse’—scientific fact, theory or speculation?

Toward a Science of Consciousness?Why do we have inner awareness? Why does it ‘feel like something’ inside to see, hear, taste, think? It’s called ‘consciousness’ and it seems mysterious—but can science explain it? We talk to experts at the 20th biennial conference, “Toward a Science of Consciousness.”

Big Questions in Free Will I?What is free will? Do we have free will? The ‘Big Questions in Free Will’ project tackles these issues in a multi-year study. In Part I, scientists and philosophers research, test, and advance thinking on free will.

Big Questions in Free Will II?How we think about free will affects how we live our lives and structure our societies. In Part II of our following the multi-year ‘Big Questions in Free Will’ project, experts discuss the psychological, social and moral aspects of Free Will.

Can Free Will Survive God's Foreknowledge? The tension between human free will and God’s knowledge of the future threatens both. It’s called God’s ‘foreknowledge’—God knowing now what will happen later—and one need not believe in God to appreciate the puzzles.

How Can God Not be Free?Does God have real choices? Or is God bound tightly by God’s own nature? Can God do absolutely everything? Can God be ‘brave’? Can God ‘improve’? For God to be God, how can God be constrained all?

What is Consciousness? Consciousness is what we know best and explain least. It is the inner subjective experience of what it feels like to see red or smell garlic or hear Beethoven. Consciousness is baffling.

Will the Universe Ever End? In the far, far future, what happens to planets, stars, galaxies, black holes? What’s the ‘Big Rip’ and the ‘Big Crunch’? And if 'multiple universes’ exist, if one universe ends, do others begin?

Can the Divine be a Person?What if God were a ‘person’? A person has sense, knowledge, will, intent, feelings. A person can be compassionate, sympathetic, empathetic. If God were a person, there’d be hope that all might end well.

What Causes Religious Belief?Why are religions so pervasive, across diverse human cultures? If God exists, would God have made it so? But there are entirely natural reasons to expect the widespread belief in God.

Does Moral Responsibility Require Free Will?Philosophers and brain scientists argue that our ‘will’ is less ‘free’ than we think. How do arguments about free will impact morality and civil society, including the judicial system and legal defenses?

What can we Learn from Alternative Gods?Novel concepts of God challenge theism—rejecting the God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Is this 'heresy'? Or enlarging our vision of what the Ultimate can be like?”

Why God, Not Nothing?To solve the great mystery ‘Why does Anything At All Exist?’, many invoke ‘God’. But isn’t God also ‘Anything’? How could God be the reason why there is ‘Something’ rather than ‘Nothing’?

Does God's Knowledge Ruin Free Will?Since God (supposedly) knows everything and can never be wrong, including about future events, how could those future events not come to pass? If we cannot do other than what God knew prior, how then free will?

How does Personal Identity Persist through Time?How does Personal Identity Persist through Time? [Consciousness] Is the self an illusion? Decades roll by; every molecule of my body changes many times. Yet I sense myself the same-continuous, a unity. How can this be?

Can Philosophy of Religion Find God?Can Philosophy of Religion Find God? Does God exist? What are God's attributes and traits? How should we examine such questions about God? Can philosophy provide insights about God?

Why Obsess about Free Will?Why Obsess about Free Will? [Consciousness] Free will probes consciousness, examines what it means to pick, choose, select, decide. But some say that 'free will' is just a trick of the brain.

Panentheism: Is the World in God?Panentheism: Is the World in God? The search for God leads to strange ideas. Panentheism claims that the world is in God but God is more than the world. Can this new kind of God make sense?

How do Brains Work?Everything we know, everything we think, comes from our brain. Are brains our window to reality, seeing what truly exists? Or are we bound by brains, mental slaves of the meat in our heads?

What is God's Eternity?Does God exist in time, experiencing time's flow? Or is God eternal, existing outside of time, creating time? These questions help assess God's existence and discern God's essence.

Is Free Will an Illusion?Some philosophers and scientists claim that because every event is determined by prior events, including every event in our brains, free will is not real. What are the arguments, the evidence?

Does Hell Reveal God?What kind of God would create hell? Does the truth of Christianity, Judaism and Islam depend on the reality of Hell? Does the nature of Hell offer Insight into what that God would be like?

Is the Universe Religiously Ambiguous?Does God exist or not exist? How can so many people be so absolutely sure-either way? But maybe that's the point! Maybe "God" and "No God" are both defensible. What would that mean?

Is Consciousness an Illusion?Is consciousness something special in the universe, a carrier of meaning and purpose? Or is consciousness a mere artifact of the brain, a by-product of evolution? I hope consciousness is special, which is why I must be a skeptic.

Are Brain and Mind the Same Thing?If mind and brain are the same thing, then the physical world is likely all that exists. But if mind and brain are not the same thing, then what? Could reality go beyond the physical?

Current Arguments for GodI like arguments about God, whether based on science, philosophy or personal experience. I like to push and to be pushed, explore the possible existence of a Creator. I must also consider defeaters of God.

Why Science and Religion Think DifferentlyScience and religion-each pursues Big Truth and offers total solutions. Science works. That's for sure. Religion? Not so sure. Does any reality exist beyond the expanding reach of science?

How Belief Systems WorkWe like to think that we are rational, that what we believe is what is true. But we often believe because of our "belief systems"-"how we believe" may be more important than "what we believe."

Why is Free Will a Mystery?Our human sense is that our will is fully free. Our scientific sense is that every action is determined by a prior action. Free will versus determinism is a big question, affecting morality, responsibility, even consciousness.

Does Brain Science Abolish Free Will?Who's the boss, me or my brain? Data from the brain, by itself, does not favor free will. But is there more to me than my brain? How to judge among the vast and competing claims about free will?

Arguing God with Analytic PhilosophyI desire God to be real, so I know that the easiest person to fool is myself. That's why I favor rational arguments for, and against, the existence of a Supreme Creator.

Is Evil Necessary in God's World?If I seek God, I cannot avoid evil. Can the enormity of evil ever be compatible with an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good God? Couldn't God have created the world without such evil?

What Maintains Personal Identity?What makes me a self? I see. I hear. I feel. How can separate perceptions bind together into a coherent mental unity? How can all be me? And how does my self persist through time?

Arguing God from BeingI'm obsessed by raw existence, which science can never explain. Does this mean that there is a God? I wish it were that simple. Yet some claim that a 'Most Perfect Being' must exist.

Can Science and Theology Find Deep Reality?Some say that science and theology together reveal deep reality. Others say that only science makes sense; theology is myth. Which is it? Science alone? Or science and theology combined?

What's Wrong with Immortal Souls?Do human beings have immortal souls? Science dismisses anything nonphysical, and even some theologians reject immortal souls. But if no immortal souls, what happens to eternal life?

Are There Things Not Material?Is the natural, physical world all-there-is? Or is there something more-a supernatural, nonphysical existence? I was trained in science, so I should be a naturalist. I'm not so sure.

Immortality and Eternal LifeI'd like to live forever. Wouldn't you? But what would "living forever" mean? Almost every religion offers life after death. What would immortality and eternal life be like?

How To Think About God's ExistenceGod exists? God does not exist? I find flaws and fallacies in both sides. So I step away from "arguments" about God and ask how to approach God's existence. What's the process?

Why is the Universe Breathtaking?I look up and I look down and I chill with awe. I look up to the universe and envision hundreds of billions of galaxies. I look down to the atom and imagine minuscule, infinitesimal particles and forces. This is reality.

Arguing God from Miracles & RevelationsI search for God but keep clear of miracles. Believers exhort me to accept that miracles are real, to recognize that miracles demonstrate the existence of a supernatural Being. I resist.

Marvels of Space-TimeEinstein showed that space and time are essentially the same thing-a single entity, space-time. But space and time seem so radically different. How could space and time be literally the same thing?

Is Theism Coherent?"Theism" is the belief in God. But atheists claim that theism is not coherent, meaning that God as a concept is riddled with conflicts, Inconsistencies and contradictions. Theists respond.

Arguing God from Natural Theology?From biblical times to Darwin, natural theology tried to detect and discern God by seeing and sensing His presence in the world-the world alone, without revelation. But after Darwin's theory of evolution, natural theology was rejected, even ridiculed. Why, now, its surprising revival?

Does ESP Reveal Spirit Existence?Parapsychologists are sure ESP is real. Skeptics are sure it is not. But if ESP is real, would ESP need to go beyond physical laws, reaching into unknown non-physical realms?

Can Metaphysics Discover Surprises?How does metaphysics contribute to our understanding of the world? It asks the most profound questions: What kinds of things exist? How does causality work? Sound too abstract? How about: Does God exist? Are you a soul?

Is God Necessary?Whether God exists may depend on whether God is necessary. Even if God exists, would it have been possible for God not to exist? In other words, even if God does exist, could it have been otherwise?

Would Multiple Universes Undermine God?Arguments for God, and against God, each call the universe as witness, each count the universe as evidence. God believers invoke the universe's apparent fine-tuning. God deniers envision a vast number of universes, so that anything can happen by accident, including us.

Do Human Brains Have Free Will?Free will seems the simplest of notions. Why then is free will so vexing to philosophers? Here's why: no one knows how free will works! Science, seemingly, permits no "gaps" in which free will can operate.

Arguing for Agnosticism?Agnostics claim that they do not know whether or not God exists. Theists surmise they're reprobates. Atheists suppose they're cowards. Are there different kinds of agnostics? Can agnosticism deepen appreciation for existence?

A New Heaven & A New Earth?The Judeo-Christian scriptures tell of "a new heaven and a new earth," when all shall be made new. What could this mean? Could this ever make sense? Believers say, "It's God's mystery." They should say more.

How Do Human Brains Think and Feel?Nothing means anything without our brains: not science, not theology, not politics, not love. Everything we know and do-all the sense of human thought, all the feelings of human emotion-all are the product of the brains in our heads.

Does a Fine-Tuned Universe Lead to God?We human beings sit roughly midway between atoms and galaxies, and both must be so perfectly structured for us to exist. It's called "fine tuning" and it's all so breathtakingly precise that it cries out for explanation. To some, fine-tuning leads to God. To others, there are non-supernatural explanations.

Wondering About GodThe God debate is not a game. Is there a God? If so, what are God's essences and traits? What are all the ways that God could be? Or could not be? We discover different beliefs of different kinds of Gods.

What is the Far Far Future of the Universe?When we speak about the future of the universe, we mean when the sun burns out, when galaxies collide, when everything flies apart and ultimately evaporates. Do the untold billions and trillions of years from now make it irrelevant for us today? No. The far far future of the universe conveys meaning now.

Solutions to the Mind-Body Problem?Are human beings purely physical? Evolved at random and destined to die, extinguished forever? Or are we something more? A spirit or a soul, with existence beyond? What's the relationship between our brains and our consciousness, between the stuff in our skulls and the essence in our minds?

How is God the Creator?If God exists, did God create everything? Did God create out of literally "nothing"? Suppose there was no beginning to the cosmos, just the universe going through endless cycles, what then? And what about "abstract objects" like logic and numbers, which seem to exist without any cause and no creator?

What Would Multiple Universes Mean?Is there more than one universe? According to current cosmology, our entire gigantic universe is only one of innumerable universes, each universe like one tiny bubble in a limitless ocean of universes. What could all this mean?

What Things are Conscious?Consciousness is the great mystery of inner awareness. Where does it exist? Humans, obviously. Animals? Which animals? Chimps, elephants, dolphins, dogs? Termites, snails, amoeba, bacteria? What about non-biological intelligences like super-supercomputers of the future?

Can Religion be Explained Without God?Most people believe that God exists and religion is God's revelation. But some claim that religion needs nothing supernatural; that religion, without God, can flourish because personal psychology and group sociology drive religion.

What's Real About Time?Time seems natural and absolute: the flow of moments one following another from the unknown past to the knife's edge present to the unknowable future. But this is not so. Einstein shocked the world by showing that time was "relative." What's the latest about time?

How do Persons Maintain Their Identity?What does it mean to be a "self"? Look at an old photo. Then look in the mirror. Those two images are of the same person, right? How so? They don't look the same. Their memories are different. And virtually every atom is different. We feel unity across time, but is this solidified self an illusion?

Is God a "Person"?If God exists, one most important question is whether God is a "person". Only a person has awareness, beliefs, intents, goals, relationships. An impersonal force has none of these. If my hope counts, God exists and God is a person. But that's absurd: my hope counts for nothing.

Asking Ultimate QuestionsI like pushing boundaries, trying to discern existence, searching the foundations of reality, knowing all that can be known. Overly ambitious? Sophomoric? I don't care. I do it anyway. Here are ultimate questions.

Why is Consciousness Baffling?How does consciousness weave its magical web of inner awareness-appreciating music, enjoying art, feeling love? Even when all mental functions may be explained, the great mystery-what it "feels like" inside-will likely remain.

What does an Expanding Universe Mean?The expanding universe is humanity's monumental discovery. Beginning with something infinitesimally small, the universe has become something majestically large. How could this happen? What could this mean?

Is the Person All Material?What makes a human being a "person?" What provides our sense of unity and continuity? While most people assume that to be a person is to have a soul, most philosophers-and some theologians-believe that persons are all material.

Arguments Against God?All who affirm that God does exist should examine the strong attacks of those who conclude that God does not exist, and then assess the sharp counterattacks of scholarly believers. Belief in God is too important to be determined by cultural circumstances.

Are there Extra Dimensions?Extra dimensions-beyond length, width, height-seem the stuff of science fiction. What would extra dimensions be like? Is time the fourth dimension? Could deep reality be so strange? And, anyway, why would we care?

Would Intelligent Aliens Undermine God?Whether extra-terrestrial intelligences exist has profound implications for human religion. We are either alone or not alone in the universe, but no matter the ultimate answer, theists and atheists will each mold that answer, alone or not alone, to fit their opposing worldviews.

Did God Create Evil?Whoever believes in the existence of God must explain the presence of evil. To theists, it's "the problem of evil," which they struggle to resolve. To atheists, it's "the argument from evil," which they wield like a sword. Moreover, if God is all-powerful and all-knowing, how could God not have created evil?

Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered?Mathematics describes the real world of atoms and acorns, stars and stairs, with remarkable precision. So is mathematics invented by humans-like chisels and hammers and pieces of music? Or is mathematics discovered-always out there, somewhere, like mysterious islands waiting to be found?

Do Angels and Demons Exist?Many theologians take angels and demons seriously. Why? Certainly, most human beings believe in angels and demons. Certainly, such nonphysical beings, in one form or another, populate most of the world's religions.

Why the Laws of Nature?What's real? What's fundamental? There are regularities in nature, things that are or work the same-always, everywhere, across the universe just like in your kitchen. Down deep, what are the laws of nature? What makes them "laws"? And where do they come from?

What is God's Judgment?Every religion thunders its day of reckoning, and to examine God's judgment is to probe God's character and perhaps assess God's existence. If God does not exist, God's judgment may expose it. If God does exist, and assuming God is merciful as well as just, maybe we've missed the meaning of God's Judgment.

Why the Cosmos?The search for meaning and purpose is humanity's never-ending quest. It is said that "How Questions" belong to the realm of science, but "Why Questions" do not. Yet startling scientific discoveries offer radical powers of explanation. Can "Why Questions" belong to science? What about the biggest "Why" of them all?

How Could God Know the Future?God is supposed to have perfect knowledge, which includes all true statements about the future. Does this mean that God knows everything about what is to come? But if the future doesn't yet exist, then there is nothing now to know. Theologians battle among themselves.

Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Life and Mind?If the universe had been ever so slightly different, human beings wouldn't, couldn't, exist. All explanations of this exquisite fine-tuning, obvious and not-so-obvious, have problems.

How does Beauty Color the Cosmos?What do scientists mean when they call the laws and regularities of nature "beautiful"? On the largest supra-cosmic scales, and on the smallest sub-atomic scales, why do scientists use "beauty" to assess their theories?

What Things Really Exist?When you ask "what things really exist", and you think deeply about this universal probe, you see the whole world anew. It's such a simple question; how does it inspire such profound insight?

Where are They, All Those Aliens?Most scientists assume that the universe must be populated with innumerable alien intelligences and civilizations - after all, we humans can't be so special. OK, so where are they, these "innumerable alien intelligences and civilizations"? How come there's zero evidence?

Why is There "Something" Rather than "Nothing"?Forget science. Forget God. This is the ultimate question: What if Everything had Forever been Nothing? Not just emptiness, not just blankness, but not even the existence of emptiness, not even the meaning of blankness, and no Forever. If you don't get dizzy, you really don't get it.

Can Many Religions All be True?No one denies the diversity of human religions, and the apparent incompatibility of their core beliefs. Many believe only their own religion to be True. Some claim all religions reflect the same Truth. Others assert that differing dogmas expose the emptiness of all religion.

Is Consciousness Fundamental?Is our mental life a random accident, solely the product or byproduct of physical brain? Or is there something deeply special about conscious awareness that may reveal a hidden reality?

Is There A Final Theory of Everything?It is the Holy Grail of physics: All the particles and forces of nature unified and explained by equations so simple that you can print them on your tee shirt. Are we getting there?

How can Emergence Explain Reality?Does ordinary stuff have mysterious properties? Take anything; find all its parts; combine those parts any way you like. What do you expect? Nothing at all like what you have. It's called "emergence" and it describes how wondrously our world works. But is it a real mystery?

Eternal Life is Like What?Almost all religions promise eternal life. In one form or another, the message goes forth that death is not final. But each religion paints its own portrait of the hereafter: some are collective and ethereal in the spirit, others individual and corporeal in the body. Which would you choose? (Your opinion means nothing, of course.)

Do Science & Religion Conflict?Don't let the heated argument or the smooth talk fool you: the struggle between science and religion carries deep significance. Meaning and Purpose hang in the balance as battle rages on many fronts.

Is There Life After Death?Do we survive bodily death? Can our personal awareness transcend physical decay? There are no bigger questions and there are no shortages of answers. Some claim to have evidence.

Arguing God from MoralityHumans have a sense of right and wrong. Does this mean that morality is absolute? And if absolute, would God be needed to make it so? Even theologians are perplexed by God & Morality; some even admit it.

How Many Universes Exist?More than one universe? A ridiculous question no more! How could multiple universes be generated, and can we ever find evidence, one way or another? Talk about expanding your horizons: you can't imagine what's in store!

What is the Mind-Body Problem?How is it possible that mushy masses of brain cells, passing chemicals and shooting sparks, literally are mental sensations and subjective feelings? They seem so radically different.

Did God Create Time?God and Time are two huge mysteries; relating them probes the nature of God, and perhaps even the existence of a Creator. If God is in Time and experiences its passage, then how could God have created Time? Also Leibniz's famous question: "Why didn't God create the world sooner?"

Does Evil Disprove God?Theologians have no tougher task than explaining evil, its enormity even more than its existence. Give the clergy their due: they've devised clever, even profound, rationale. But at the end of the long day, do these explanations, or rationalizations, really work?

Why are Black Holes Astonishing?They warp space and time, squeeze matter to a vanishing point, and trap light so that it cannot escape. How can black holes perform such stupendous tricks, and what can we learn from them?

What is Free Will?If it seems obvious that you are perfectly free to choose and decide, then it seems perfectly clear that you underestimate the problem (and have never questioned a philosopher). Free Will is a huge problem.

How Could God Interact with the World?If God exists, and if God ordains history and generates miracles, how does He do it? Fiddle with each and every atom? Command all of them en masse? What possibly could be God's technique?

Did Our Universe have a Beginning?Everything in the universe has a beginning, but how can the universe as a whole have a start date? Does a universal commencement make sense? What would it possibly mean?

Arguing God's ExistenceYou've heard the raucous noise about God; now listen to the cogent arguments, con and pro. Not that determining the existence of God is up for vote; when searching for Truth, majority opinion counts for nothing.

Do Persons have Souls?Is the "Real You" a special substance that is both nonphysical and immortal? Most people think "Certainly". Most scientists think "Certainly Not". What some theologians think may trouble you.

Does ESP Reveal the Nonphysical?Some claim that their scientific study of extrasensory perception, or parapsychology, overturns the worldview of science. Should we take these startling pronouncements seriously?

Arguing God from First CauseDoes everything need a cause? Everything in the universe surely does. But what about the universe as a whole? And what about God - assuming God exists - does God need a cause?